Canada-China Relations Committee on June 10th, 2024

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you. Unfortunately, my time is up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken Hardie]

Ms. McPherson, the next six minutes are yours.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for being here today.

Thank you to your team for joining you.

One of the concerns that I have with regard to the Indo-Pacific strategy is I don't think it prioritizes human rights enough. We've pushed for them to be more included in there, and we've long advocated for Canada to devote more attention to human rights in its diplomatic, trade and security relations with other countries.

Several human rights organizations have brought serious concerns about the human rights record of successive governments in the Philippines. In fact, both in Ottawa and in my riding of Edmonton Strathcona, I've had Filipinos raise concerns about human rights within the Philippines. These concerns include things like extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate aerial bombings of civilian areas and attacks of political activists, journalists, union members and indigenous people. I do see that under the current government the human rights record appears to be improving, that the government is now allowing United Nations human rights experts into the country.

Gently, I would just like to ask two questions. First, what steps is your government taking to address these concerns that have been raised by Filipinos about human rights?

Second, has your government agreed to co-operate with the International Criminal Court in its investigations into crimes against humanity, including during the drug war?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Thank you for the very important question.

The Philippines, like Canada, places a premium on the protection of human rights. Under this current administration, there have been very vigorous investigations into allegations of human rights, particularly the extrajudicial killings. Even our current parliament is also launching its own investigation.

Considering that we are doing our own internal investigation into all these issues, we believe it is not the appropriate time to involve other parties, since our own internal mechanisms are working, and they're working well.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

The Canada Indo-Pacific strategy states that “Canada will also increase our feminist international assistance to address local development challenges, advance collective efforts toward the Sustainable Development Goals and continue actively engaging in defending human rights in the region, including women’s rights.” Of course, we have a feminist international assistance policy.

What should Canada's approach be? Considering that this is part of our Indo-Pacific strategy, what should Canada's approach be to supporting the protection of human rights, and particularly women's rights, in the Philippines and the entire Indo-Pacific region?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

One very important topic that the Philippines has advocated on is the protection of the rights of temporary foreign workers. One tenth of the Philippine population live and work overseas, many of whom work in many countries as temporary foreign workers. The Philippine government has always been at the forefront of many efforts to ensure the protection of temporary foreign workers.

We are thus very appreciative of the work of the Senate committee that did a study on the rights of temporary foreign workers. We just met with Senator Ratna Omidvar last week, and we have committed our assistance in providing whatever information they may need. She spoke to many Filipino temporary foreign workers in Canada.

It may also interest you to know that the Philippines is, I believe, the only country in the world that has both labour officers and welfare officers embedded in our embassies and consulates to make sure that the rights of our temporary foreign workers working abroad are adequately protected. Like they are in Canada, many of our temporary foreign workers are women in the caregiving sector.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

They're in the care sector. I would say that the United Nations has actually named Canada for having such a poor temporary workers program in that there is a high risk of forced labour or modern slavery. Of course, women who are in the care sector are some of the most vulnerable, certainly.

I have one other question for you with regard to Canada's focus in the Philippines. We do know that international development projects are part of the Indo-Pacific strategy. There has been some funding allocated for that. Can you talk about the types of international development projects that you think Canada should focus on with regard to engagement in the Philippines?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Thank you for that very important question. This is something that's very close to our hearts.

Canada has been a very important partner of the Philippines in terms of development co-operation, but I have observed that the impact of Canada's footprint in the region, especially in terms of development co-operation, which is essentially soft power, is not very evident. I referred to it once as an “invisible” footprint, because Canada engages in many different projects but on a small scale.

We have advocated with our interlocutors in Global Affairs Canada to consult with the national government so that we can work together on development projects that will make a bigger impact. For example, there are the ASEAN SEED scholarships. These scholarships are eight-month research programs. For example, 100 researchers in the Philippines may research 100 different subjects. We were saying that perhaps they could invest in, say, master's degree programs in issues that are important to us, such as marine scientific research, considering the degradation of our marine environment. If Canada could fund 10 scholars doing their master's or Ph.D. in marine scientific research, that would create a very huge and visible impact and be very clear support to Philippine national development goals.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken Hardie]

Thank you, Ms. McPherson.

We will now go to Mr. Chong for five minutes.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Ambassador. It's good to see you here. Thank you for your comments.

I'd like to talk a bit about something you mentioned earlier in your testimony when you talked about energy co-operation. I understand that your natural gas field has largely depleted in the last several years and that you are looking for energy sources. You mentioned renewables, which is encouraging, as well as nuclear.

I'm wondering if you have a need to displace coal and oil in your energy-electricity mix.

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

The issue of energy is very important to the Philippines. One reason we do not have many manufacturing jobs in the Philippines is that energy is expensive. In terms of our current mix, it's 60% coal and oil-based solutions, with about 32% renewables. If we had to rely on our own renewable energy, we could only produce less than 30%.

We really need to partner with other countries, like Canada, with vast experience in clean renewable energy to be able to do that. We are committed to changing our energy mix and making it better by 2030, with another goalpost by 2050, but we need the help of our friends and allies to do that.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I understand that the Government of the Philippines a number of years ago approved the Philippines' first ever liquefied natural gas facility. I believe that was commissioned a year ago. Is that correct?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Yes.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Are there any other proposals being brought forward by private sector companies that the Philippine government is considering approval for in terms of additional liquefied natural gas facilities?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Yes, there are proposals on the table. The Philippine government continues to encourage more investments in liquefied natural gas. As I mentioned earlier, we have a revised renewable energy act, which allows 100% foreign ownership in the renewable energy industry to encourage more foreign players to come in.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

First of all, I assume, from what I've read, that most of the energy purchased for your electricity system is purchased by private sector companies.

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Yes.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you for clarifying that.

Is most of that energy purchased on the open market or through long-term contracts negotiated by these private sector companies?

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

They normally purchase through the open market.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Well, as you know, Ambassador, a new liquefied natural gas facility, our first, will be coming online in, hopefully, a few short years off the coast of British Columbia. It will be able to transport Canadian liquefied natural gas to the Indo-Pacific region. I think there's much interest here in expanding that export market, which I think would benefit the Philippines. I also note that you mentioned that 60% of your electricity generation comes from oil and gas. Coal is also a part of that mix, I believe.

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

Yes.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

That has a substantially higher greenhouse gas emissions profile than does LNG. Therefore, I'm wondering if there's any interest by the Philippine government in working more closely with the Government of Canada, not just on nuclear and renewables but also on the export of Canadian liquefied natural gas.

[H.E. Maria Andrelita Sacramento Austria]

There is very clear interest in all sources of energy that will help us improve our energy mix. The initial issue was the difficulty in transporting LNG, but now that Japan has committed to buying a huge chunk, we are closely watching, because if it can get to Japan, then there's a very clear possibility that there's an economic sense for it to get to the Philippines. Therefore, we're watching those developments very closely.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I assume you're referring to the Japanese government's direction to Mitsubishi to secure long-term LNG contracts for Japan's future economic growth.